Nov 3, 2005

(Toledo, OH) With an hour to kill in between appointments, I decided to gather some photos of the Glass City's riverfront for future reference. The breezy afternoon made choppy the waters of the Maumee River, but a few adventurous boaters took advantage of the sunny skies to spend a November afternoon getting in a few more moments of maritime enjoyment.

Dozens of Canadian geese paused en route south to sun themselves in the small bay near International Park. Disturbed by something in the area they began to honk in unison, creating a deafening communal cackling along the riverbank.

The fate of One SeaGate (locally known as the O-I Building) is uncertain; the building's owner announced this week that there is a strong possibility the Toledo landmark may go into foreclosure. Owens-Illinois, the building's biggest tenant, will move next year to a $20 million facility currently under construction in Perrysburg's Levis Development Park.

The building, which opened for business in 1981, is Toledo’s tallest skyscraper. It is 411 feet tall, and has a real estate valuation of more than $45.5 million. If the O-I building gets shuttered, Toledo would gain its second vacant "signature" building; the 30-story Fiberglas Tower, which once housed Owens-Corning, is the other glaring real estate void on the Toledo skyline.

Under a tree near Water and Sycamore I spied a collection of mushrooms that had recently sprouted. The fungi created the trippy impression of an enchanted forest. A security officer saw me sprawled out on the ground taking this photo, and commented that he was "glad that I was a 'legitimate' person, because we have had a lot of vandalism here lately."

I am not sure what, exactly, made me "legitimate" on a public sidewalk, but I trust that the man's experiences justified his investigative curiosity in me.

And that, kiddies, is how I spent my time in in the blustery winds of a downtown Toledo November afternoon.